Akestos
Surge Lord
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: Melee Talon or Blade for Hive Species.
Image Source: Devil May Cry - Vignette2 (Altered Shaded/Red) | Tyranid Codex | Custom Text
Canon Link: Fighting Claw | Vong Grafting
Primary Source: None
PRODUCTION INFORMATION
Manufacturer: The Hive Mind
Affiliation: Faction, SwarmSurge | Closed-Market
Model: Swarm Fighting Claw
Modularity: Yes
Production: Mass-Produced
Material: Vong Fighting Claw Parasites | Internal D13 Structural support
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Classification: Sword or Talon
Size: Average
Weight: Average
SPECIAL FEATURES
Strengths:
- Easy Fit. Can be either wielded, grown or grafted on a hive species.
- Styled after Vong Tech, this weapon is extremely sharp, hardy, and dangerous to most opponents in melee.
- Like Vong Fighting Claws, it cuts through most energy shields.
- These are retractable blades in talon form, very long claw weapons, though there is often some pain given the size of it when first extending the claw. Alternatively, it can be kept out as a sharp extra limb or wielded like a sword.
- Natural Regrowth. If the parasite inside the sword, limb or talon remains alive, it can regrow if fed nutrients. To regrow a full sword size this usually takes five days, but lesser damage takes less time, a surface hit might just take a day. The nutrients required can be fed directly from a host creature, or fed externally through a small organism, hive structure or plant. In the case of the supporting D13 mineral, if the internal support is entirely cut, that will need a replacement to bring the sword back to full strength.
Weaknesses:
- Melee Only. There is absolutely no range beyond sword distance to this weapon. Often times it can't even be thrown as it'll be attached.
- Average resistance to Lightsabers. Less than regular vong fighting claws. They will go through it but it will take several hits. Like chipping away at rock with a mallet.
- Wildgrowth. The weapon is linked to the Hive via secondary infection, which means it's at the mercy of the creature carrying or using it, not the hive mind itself. In the case of a sword, for example, the creature wielding it will almost certainly be the one deciding when it strikes. Depending on their level of consciousness as to how much control they assert.
- Wildgrowth by its nature is a secondary infection and can cause issues of mutation for the Hive in offshoot species, meaning this sword could end up mutating in a way that doesn't benefit the creature, though this is rare as the parasite might well just be removed or drone creature killed.
- The creature could be telepathically attacked through its own weapon, not physically any weaker than a limb, it is one point of shared telepathic contact, not just simple impulse along a nervous system like a limb might be. It is not a shared point of contact to the Hive Mind itself, as that consciousness is three times removed, Weapon - Creature - Hive Node - Swarm Will or Hive Mind
- In a symbiotic Talon state, the parasite shares traits of the host creature, and the creature it is fixed on is a good guide as to what will kill it. It is possible the parasite creature will be killed with enough damage, rendering any talon or claw stuck in a fixed position, still sharp but forever fixed there until it is replaced with another weapon. In sword form this won't matter as much, because it'll still be a sword just a dead one.
DESCRIPTION
While most Hive Species can grow their own weapons for melee combat, sometimes they will be growing or carrying the Swarm Fighting Claw. Whether carried or grown, it's about the size of a sword, and a deep orange or red shade, but can come often come in blacks, yellows, browns, and greys. Some Swarm members with greater intelligence also prefer to wield these weapons like a sword, or have them grafted on other creatures, allowing for adaptation to any challenge the Hive, Swarm or Surge might face in the moment. A known fact to those who remember is that the One Sith were experimenting with Vong technology in their final days, and much of this technology was being used by Raien Keth for his weapons and creations. Continued by his apprentice [member="Darth Centax"] after his untimely death.
The Fighting Claw parasite was one such creature that was taken by the swarm as their own, and while not all species are implanted with it, some are, especially melee soldiers or predators. Whether sword or talon, it will have a sensory connection to its host. While this confers no special abilities beyond say a regular hand or foot, it does give opponents options to telepathically attack a creature through its own weapon. The D13 mineral internally gives it a bit more fixed structure to it, also providing a weakness in that it cannot regrow organically, and so if the D13 internal structure is broken, it has to be grafted back on in a Hive Maturation chamber or implanted by a suitable hive creature.
Often part of various Terminus armors such as Terminus Armor or Terminus Barab Armor depending on how the virus mutates, the talon is also grafted on to various hive organisms, especially certain soldiers, predators or firstspawns. The parasite is quite small and doesn't require a lot of food unless it suffers damage to the blade, in which case it will need more food than usual from the host or an external source.
